This bowl of perfectly fresh raw seafood and other yummy ingredients was transformed into a delicious Japanese pancake called Okonomiyaki.

The restaurant we ate it in was in the Shibuya district of Tokyo and it was a very cool experience because the restaurant was set up with little booths that had large flat hot plates built into the tables.

Diners then get to choose from a large menu of options and cook the food themselves. It’s a great, interactive way to eat out!

We were really lucky to have some lovely Japanese ladies in the booth next us. I imagine we looked a bit bewildered when the bowl of raw ingredients was set down in front of us so they gave us a little demo.

For more pictures of the cooking process and a peek inside the restaurant click the ‘Read the rest of this article’ button below.

The booths inside the restaurant. There were lots of young people, I guess it’s a cool thing to do for dinner after work?

Cooking. It only took about 5 minutes.

Cooked. Then topped with that oh-so-sweet Japanese BBQ sauce and moreish Japanese mayo. Heaven.

Served with this. Mushrooms in Japan are amazing! There’s so many varieties and they are super-duper flavoursome.

I loved ducking into supermarkets and checking out the fresh produce aisles while I was there. In fact, that was my favourite thing to do in all the countries we travelled to. Do you do that?

Unfortunately I don’t know the exact name and location of the restaurant, but from my crappy entry-level Japanese I know the Hiragana characters on the sign were O and Ra, so I think the name is Ora. If you know the address of this restaurant in Shibuya, please leave a comment and let me know!

If you’ve missed the previous Foreign Food Fridays posts. Simply click the link under the post headline to view them all.

Have a great weekend, Christie x

I love the dining experiences I’ve had in Tokyo. They are always interactive and can really leave you lost in translation…but that’s half the fun! Okonomiyaki is so delicious and more-ish. It’s one of my fave things to eat when I’m there.

I loved Japanese supermarkets and department stores. Last time I was there I took my video cam in to capture all the amazing foods on display, like their marbled beef, seafood, the little food stalls here and there, and their perfect hydroponic rockmelons!! Lucky I got away with it ’cause I then realised filming was not allowed :P

Ooohhh, this is one of my fave dishes. There’s a similar Korean version too. However, I usually do without the mayo and sweet sauce and drizzle a sweet chilli sauce on mine. I know … sacrilegious and I might be stabbed by most Japanese okonomiyaki chefs for that. Which is why I do that at home. Safer.